Restaurant Reservation Startup VillageVines Raises $3 Million

Hearst Interactive Media, early investors in companies like Pandora, Netscape and Local.com, has taken the lead in a $3 million round of funding for VillageVines, a startup that offers member discounts at upscale restaurants in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and other major cities in the United States.

VillageVines says it will use the investment to scale its operations across the country, hire key staff, increase its marketing efforts and establish more affiliate agreements.

People can sign up for VillageVines to gain access to a curated selection of ‘exclusive’ restaurants, book reservations online and score discounts that are discreetly applied to their bills without needing to show a coupon – the startup says discounts are generally 30 percent off the entire meal, including drinks.

The company claims it has already generated over half a million dollars of sales for their restaurant partners in December 2010 alone.